Subscription models have indeed become a pain, though I seriously doubt they're going anywhere unfortunately.
With Photo Mechanic, the issue is not only the subscription (or the price increase), but also the
lack of any new features you're getting for the money. If you review the new features page (
https://home.camerabits.com/whats-new-in-photo-mechanic/), you'll see there are only 8 things mentioned. Of the 8, these are somehow worth mentioning:
1. New app icon (...!?)
2. License management improvements
3. Installation
4. Easier to update
5. The option to choose a subscription
So to me - I don't see any real improvements to the actual product. Admittedly it's already an excellent application, but if you're going to charge me a subscription or substantially increase the price, in return I would expect that to be reinvested into the product, and to receive meaningful feature improvements (not just maintenance and bug fixes). Basic things in PM+ like the lack of smart albums, inability to filter on portrait vs landscape photos (I believe), and plenty of room for UI improvements are just a few examples where I'm surprised there have been no updates.
I've had "free" access to the new PM+ for ~6 months now, and I didn't really bother to use it during this time, because as far as I can see - it's the same (with that new icon
).
Summing up, Photo Mechanic is a great product, but I don't think the subscription model fits for software that is not evolving/improving over time at a reasonable pace. I will also likely switch DAMs once my license stops working, sadly, because there are a lot of things I like about using PM+, but it doesn't seem to be improving enough to justify the new pricing terms.